


Cause and Effect

by StannisIsTheOneTrueKing



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Amnesiac! Barry, Barry/Kara brotp, Based on the promo for The Flash 3x21, F/M, Past Julian/Caitlin, Spoilers for Arrow 5x20's promo, Spoilers for Legends of Tomorrow 2x17, Spoilers for Supergirl 2x16, Spoilers for The Flash 3x20
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2018-10-27 08:09:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10805181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StannisIsTheOneTrueKing/pseuds/StannisIsTheOneTrueKing
Summary: My take on 3x21 "Cause and Effect" When Barry loses his memories and Cisco cannot restore them, perhaps Teams Arrow, Legends and Supergirl visiting can jog Barry's memories?





	1. Chapter 1

“Cisco? What do you want?” Oliver growled into his earpiece. He and Felicity had escaped the bunker, but Chase was long gone and the leads had dried up. Prometheus wouldn’t be caught anytime soon it seemed.

“I need you to come to Central. Barry needs help, and I think you could help.” Cisco explained.

“I’ve kinda got my own problems here.” Oliver informed him.

“Look, we don’t need you to fight anyone, at least I don’t think so, but we really need you, Felicity and Diggle here ASAP.” Cisco said.

“Alright, we’ll come over there, but you and Barry better give us a damn good explanation when we get there.” Oliver stated.

“Alright, we’ll see you soon. I’ve got a few more phone calls to make.”

/

“Cisco!” Kara happily called as she heard her friend’s voice through the wormhole. “What’s the matter?”

“Hey, annoying question, but can you get over to Earth-1 for a bit?” Cisco asked.

“I should be able to get away for a day, we’ve got everything handled here for the moment.” Kara said. “Why, what’s up?”

“It’s better if you see it for yourself, you probably wouldn’t believe it if I told you. Bring anyone along if you want, it’s Barry.”

“Alright, well I’ll be there as quick as I can, I’ll grab Winn if he wants to come but the others might be too busy to come.”

“Anyone you want to bring who has met Barry, I’ll explain soon.” Cisco promised as he hung up. Ara frowned and headed off to the DEO to track down Winn, it seemed Barry needed their help, and Winn would probably love to see his dimension travelling buddy again.

/

“Finally, we’re out of that distorted timeline and back into our own.” Sara proclaimed as the rest of the Legends cheered.

“No more screwing up the timeline though.” Ray warned as the rest of them laughed.

“You know we’ll manage it, somehow, Mr Palmer.” Stein chuckled before Gideon suddenly appeared before the crew.

“What’s the matter, Gideon?” Sara asked.

“Message from Central City, 2017.” Gideon supplied before Cisco’s voice was heard.

“Is this on, Gideon?”

“Yes, Mr Ramon.” Gideon prompted.

“Hey everyone.” Cisco said.

“Hey!” They chorused back to him.

“Can you guys get to Central City? It’s an emergency and Barry needs pretty much everyone. I’ve already called Team Arrow and Supergirl and they’re on their way.” Cisco stated.

“Mmm, I wanted to see Kara again.” Sara winked as Jax shook his head at her antics.

“What’s Red gotten himself into now?” Mick asked.

“It’s better if you just see, because I’m not sure if you’d believe it.” Cisco said before he cursed. “Damn, I’ve got to go, quickly get here, please? Barry, No! Don’t touch that!” He yelled before the transmission ended.

“Gideon, set a course.” Sara ordered.

“STAR Labs, May 2017.” Gideon supplied as the Wave Rider headed off once again.

/

“Alright, Cisco, we’re here. What’s the problem?” Oliver asked as he walked into the cortex with Felicity, Diggle, Stein, Sara, Ray, Mick and Jax.

“Oh good, you’re here.” Cisco said as he walked over to them, Julian and HR in tow.

“Where’s Barry?” Felicity asked.

“Iris and Joe are watching him.” HR said.

“Where’s Caitlin?” Dig asked.

“Thar’s part of the issue.” Cisco said. “I was just waiting for Kara so we only have to explain this once.”

As he said that, a portal opened behind him and out stepped Kara and Winn.

“Hey everyone.” Kara beamed at them. “This is my friend, Winn. He’s like my Earth’s Cisco or Felicity.”

“Pleased to meet you all.” Winn smiled at them as Cisco and Felicity smiled back at him especially. It was always nice to meet a fellow techie.

“So, what’s up?” Jax asked seeing everyone was there.

“Short answer, Caitlin went full Killer Frost, sided with Savitar, Barry found out who Savitar is, we tried to stop Savitar, it backfired and Barry has lost all of his memories.” Cisco said.

“Wait, what?!” A few voice chorused as everyone looked at Team Flash in shock.

“Yeah, Caitlin went evil and B.A knows nothing anymore.” HR frowned as Julian and Cisco glared at him.

“I think I know why we’re here, you’re hoping we could jog Barry’s memory?” Ray asked as Cisco nodded.

“Precisely.” Julian said.

“We’ll do it.” Oliver said as Team Arrow, Legends and Supergirl nodded their assent.

“Thanks guys.” Cisco smiled.

“So, who is this Savitar and how does defeating him involve accidentally wiping Barry’s mind?” Winn asked.

“Savitar calls himself the God of Speed, the first speedster and apparently he’s Barry’s greatest enemy, even more than Zoom or Thawne ever was.” HR said as the rest absorbed the information.

“Barry figured out who he was when Joe was talking about what can happen if we lose love apparently, and confronted him.” Julian said.

“He told us what he found out and we suggested temporarily removing Barry’s ability to create new memories, we tried, it backfired and wiped all his memories.” Cisco admitted sadly.

“How would stopping memories stop Savitar?” Mick asked.

“You all know Barry is like the most loving person ever, I’m sure he’s 90% love.” Cisco said as the others nodded. Barry was usually the eternal optimist after all. “Well, take all of that love away, and he’d become warped, in the future sometime that happens, Barry, we don’t know why or how, he loses his connection to love and reason it seems. Savitar is a future version of Barry.” Cisco informed the others as their faces betrayed various expressions of disbelief and shock.

“So, Barry in the future is a bad guy?” Kara asked, not wanting to believe it.

“A possible future version of him it seems is, yes.” Julian said.

“He’s one step ahead of us as he remembers doing what we’re doing to stop him.” HR said.

“So if we removed his ability to remember, temporarily, Savitar would be blind and could be stopped.” Felicity surmised as Cisco nodded.

“Yes, but it backfired and now Mr Allen has no memories whatsoever?” Stein asked.

“Nothing from above the age of 5 it seems, he remembers things like dentists, but our faces, our pasts, nothing.” Cisco stated sadly before a noise came from behind them, turning around they all saw Tracy Brandt walking with Barry.

“Oh, hello.” Tracy said to the newcomers as Barry looked at them all in confusion.

“Who are all these people?” Barry asked and everyone felt their hearts break a little at Barry not recognising them.

“Well, you see, um.” Winn started.

“We’re your friends.” Oliver stated, taking in Barry’s shocked look and the general unknowing look on his face as he took them all in.

“All of you are my friends?” Barry questioned as everyone nodded except Mick.

“Well, I’m more of an acquaintance.” Mick grumbled as Sara nudged him.

“And you are?” Stein asked, looking over Tracy.

“Oh, I’m Tracy Brandt, from CCU, I’m here to help stop Savitar.” She said as the others looked back at Cisco.

“Barry travelled to February 2024 to find out how to stop Savitar last week, Tracy invented the tech in 2020 that stopped Savitar in that timeline, she won the Nobel Prize in 2021 for her work on it and becoming the new foremost expert on the Speed Force.” Cisco informed them.

“February 2024? That’s just before he vanishes, isn’t it?” Oliver asked Cisco who nodded as the others looked confused.

“Who vanishes?” Jax asked.

“When the Dominators took over you all, Barry took me to a secret room in STAR labs that Team Flash have known about for a few years, it has a news article from April 25th, 2024.” Oliver explained as the others nodded.

“What’s the article about?” Mick asked.

“Flash Vanishes, missing in crisis.” Cisco states as the rest looked stricken. “Battling against Thawne with the help of the Green Arrow, Hawkgirl and the ATOM, The Flash and Reverse Flash vanish in a bright light, we don’t know if either are ever seen again.” He sums up as those who didn’t know about the article look horrified that they could lose Barry, even if he beats Savitar and stops Iris from dying.

“Basically, that future was a hellhole where Team Flash was gone, Savitar had been gone for four years but had won, and Barry was a wreck. Barry saved it before he left, getting the 2024 Barry hopeful again and reformed Team Flash, but we want to stop all of that from ever happening in the first place.” Julian said.

“So, you’re here to build it three years earlier?” Winn asked Tracy who nodded.

“I’m here to help save the day, and we have three weeks to do it.”

“Three weeks?” Dig asked.

“Mau 23rd, 2017. The day Savitar kills Iris West.” Cisco said as the others looked shocked. They hadn’t heard about this from Barry.

“That’s why you’re so determined to stop him as soon as you can.” Ray said as Team Flash nodded, except Barry, who just looked confused by all of this talk of the future and Savitar.

“Wait, future _Barry_ kills _Iris_?” Kara asked, unbelieving that the woman that Barry loved so much could be killed by him.

“Savitar always gloated that he was the future to Barry, that’s what starts him on the path to becoming Savitar, the death of Iris, by his own hand.” Cisco grimly said. “As we’ve heard from Savitar, Abra Kadabra, a man from the 64th century and the 2024 Barry, the death of Iris does what Zoom and Thawne never could, it truly breaks Barry.”

The others looked shocked and saddened to hear that the Flash, a man who inspired hope wherever he went, could be broken and so soon, some of them sent pitying glances at Barry, who continued to look confused by it all.

 “What can we do to stop it?” Stein asked.

“I was hoping just seeing you guys would jog Barry’s memory, but it hasn’t.” Cisco stated sadly. “I’m not sure what to do next to try and recover Barry. We need him to stop Savitar, it can’t be anyone else.”

“Why not?” Mick challenged. “We could all attack Savitar, put him down.”

“Barry entered the Speed Force to save Wally, just before Kara was last here.” Cisco stated. “The Speed Force tormented Barry, appearing to him as Eddie Thawne, an old friend of ours, Ronnie Raymond, another old friend and Caitlin’s fiancé, the first Firestorm with the Professor, and as Snart. It told him that he always lets others make the sacrifice, that Barry had to stop Savitar and save Iris, nobody else could do it.”

“Poor Barry, I had no idea.” Felicity breathed as the rest looked on more in pain. The Speed Force was wrong, it was always Barry who made the sacrifices, always Barry who would lay down his life for a friend in a heartbeat. He’d proven that time and time again.

“We can take Barry on the Wave Rider, let Gideon look him over with the future tech and see if she recommends anything for getting his memory back?” Jax asked.

“That’s a great idea, Jax.” HR smiled, before his smile dropped, turning around everyone saw Joe and Iris enter the Cortex with Wally.

“Hey everyone.” Iris said sadly as they looked at her awkwardly. What could they say now that they knew she was marked for death? They couldn’t be upbeat but they also couldn’t be negative, Barry would find a way to save her, or if not, they would. Iris was one of them and she wouldn’t die if they could help it.

“Is that a rock on your finger?” Mick eyed Iris as the others looked shocked.

“Barry re-proposed?” Kara asked as the others then looked at her in shock.

“You knew about this?” Oliver asked her.

“Yeah, they’d just broken up when I came here last month, but they got back together as I left.” She smiled. “I’m glad to see he proposed again.”

“Yeah, this time it was because he wanted too, not because he thought that marrying me before May would save me from Savitar.” Iris said. “So I said yes, he sang to me as he proposed, it was romantic.” She blushed.

“How is everything going with Barry?” Joe asked as they looked at him sadly.

“Seeing everyone hasn’t jogged his memory.” Cisco admitted. “I’m not sure what to try next to try and help him.”

“What about if I take him for a run?” Wally asked.

“Wally, he doesn’t remember being the Flash or anything, he could hurt himself or others.” Iris rebuked him.

“I can watch him if Wally wants to see if it’ll help?” Kara offered. “I can travel as fast as they can.”

“Well, alright.” Cisco said, looking worried. “But if he falls or something, straight back here. We need to make sure he’ll be alright.” Cisco said.

“I’m on it.” Kara smiled as she and Wally herded Barry out of the room after Kara quickly grabbed Barry’s suit.

“So, why was Kara here the other week?” Dig enquired.

“Somebody called Music Meister attacked her on our Earth, then ran here so her boyfriend and our boss followed him here, bringing Kara to get her help.” Winn said.

“He also got Barry, he put them in a coma where they entered a sort of musical dream world apparently.” Cisco said. “They followed a script singing and dancing inside their shared dreamscape whilst we tried to help them out here by stopping Music Meister, it ended with them both being shot and rescued by Iris and Kara’s boyfriend, Mon-El. Apparently love conquers all, they were rescued and Music Meister appeared, told them it was to teach them a lesson about needing love and how it’s about being rescued by the other person sometimes, even if you’re a superhero, then he vanished into thin air before Kara, Mon-El and their boss, J’onn went back to their Earth.”

“So Barry and Kara did a few musical numbers together?” Ray asked.

“I so wish there was video of it.” Sara smirked.

“Yeah, apparently it was very Wizard of Oz, they had to sing whilst stopping a gang war. The gang leaders were Malcolm Merlyn and his son Mon-El on one side, Kara and Barry as well as myself and Winn worked for him apparently, and Joe and his partner, in every sense of the word, Professor Stein, and their daughter, Iris, Mon-El’s forbidden love on the other side.” Cisco explained as those who had been mentioned as being in the musical looked shocked as those who hadn’t sniggered, except for Oliver and Mick, who scowled.

“It was sweet, creepy at times, but sweet, and Barry and I even made our own song up.” Kara said as she came back in, followed by a resigned looking Wally and a shocked looking Barry.

“Barry just found out he can run faster than he thinks is possible, and started to freak out, but no memories.” Wally ruefully said.

“You made a song together? What?” Sara smirked.

“It was called Superfriend and it talked about our powers and friendship, like I said I’m your Superfriend, one part near the end I said if you ever need a hand, and Barry said I’ll be there in a flash, I yelled Barry! He said it was funny, then it finished with both of us saying-“

“-I’m your super, it has a double meaning, friend!” A voice sang from the back, turning around they saw Barry starting to smile.

“You remembered!?” Kara exclaimed as the rest looked in shock. It seemed something had jogged his memory a little.

“I got flashes, Kara, right?” Barry asked her as she rushed over and hugged him tightly.

“Yes!” She yelled as she held him close still.

“Do you remember any of us?” Iris asked hopefully.

“Iris…” Barry breathed, taking her in.

With tears in her eyes, she rushed over to Barry as Kara quickly untangled herself and moved aside, and leapt into Barry’s arms, holding him close and kissing him over and over again.

“We’re not trying anything that stupid ever again, you hear me?” Iris said to him as he held her tight.

“I promise, Iris, I promise.” Barry said.

“What about the rest of us?” Cisco grumbled, as Barry looked at him blankly.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know who you all are still.” He pouted, as Oliver quickly took his bow and an arrow to hand and aimed it at Barry, firing it at his leg.

Barry yelped and quickly dodged out of the way. “Alright, jesus Ollie! I was kidding! I remembered all of you when I hugged Iris, don’t shoot me!” Barry whined as some of the others grinned and Oliver glared at Barry.

“Don’t mess with your memories ever again, Barry.” Oliver said to him. “You will find a way to stop Savitar, without losing yourself or anyone else, do you hear me?”

“Loud and clear.” Barry winked at him as everyone smiled. It seemed they’d be ok, Barry had his memories back and he was ready to take the fight to Savitar. He wouldn’t let himself become the warped shell of Barry Allen that Savitar was, he’d stop him, they knew it.

“You sure you don’t want us to stick around and help?” Kara asked Barry as her and Winn prepared to head back to Earth-38.

“Nah, I’ve got to do it, like the Speed Force said. Besides, I think we’ve all had more than enough excitement for now, and we all have our own problems to take care of.” Barry told her as she nodded. That was true, Cadmus was still out there, and with how Rhea had acted, she doubted the Queen of Daxam had just given up and left without a fight.

“I’ll see you soon, Barry.” Kara and Winn both promised as they left, before Team Legends also bid everyone else farewell and took off once more to protect the timeline in the Wave Rider.

“Oliver, Felicity, Dig. Thanks for coming.” Barry smiled at them as he hugged Felicity and shook hands with the other two.

“Anytime, Barry.” Dig promised.

“Take care, Barry.” Felicity smiled.

“If you need help with Prometheus, just call me.” Barry informed them as they nodded and walked back to their car, leaving Barry alone with Oliver.

“Look, Oliver, I appreciate you coming and I mean it, you need help stopping Chase, just ask.”

“Thanks, Barry, but I’ve got a plan to stop Chase.” Oliver promised him. “Just make sure that you never become Savitar, and when you do defeat him, tell him that its love, not hate that makes you strong, that is why Barry Allen, and not Savitar, will ALWAYS win.”


	2. Extended Edition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Extended version, with the few spelling mistakes corrected and a whole new scene with Caitlin and Savitar visiting the assorted heroes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out @2050_official on Twitter for updates and news on all of my stories and other things concerning the Arrowverse.

“Cisco? What do you want?” Oliver growled into his earpiece. He and Felicity had escaped the bunker, but Chase was long gone and the leads had dried up. Prometheus wouldn’t be caught anytime soon it seemed.

“I need you to come to Central. Barry needs help, and I think you could help.” Cisco explained.

“I’ve kinda got my own problems here.” Oliver informed him.

“Look, we don’t need you to fight anyone, at least I don’t think so, but we really need you, Felicity and Diggle here ASAP.” Cisco said.

“Alright, we’ll come over there, but you and Barry better give us a damn good explanation when we get there.” Oliver stated.

“Alright, we’ll see you soon. I’ve got a few more phone calls to make.”

/

“Cisco!” Kara happily called as she heard her friend’s voice through the wormhole. “What’s the matter?”

“Hey, annoying question, but can you get over to Earth-1 for a bit?” Cisco asked.

“I should be able to get away for a day, we’ve got everything handled here for the moment.” Kara said. “Why, what’s up?”

“It’s better if you see it for yourself, you probably wouldn’t believe it if I told you. Bring anyone along if you want, it’s Barry.”

“Alright, well I’ll be there as quick as I can, I’ll grab Winn if he wants to come but the others might be too busy to come.”

“Anyone you want to bring who has met Barry, I’ll explain soon.” Cisco promised as he hung up. Kara frowned and headed off to the DEO to track down Winn, it seemed Barry needed their help, and Winn would probably love to see his dimension travelling buddy again.

/

“Finally, we’re out of that distorted timeline and back into our own.” Sara proclaimed as the rest of the Legends cheered.

“No more screwing up the timeline though.” Ray warned as the rest of them laughed.

“You know we’ll manage it, somehow, Mr Palmer.” Stein chuckled before Gideon suddenly appeared before the crew.

“What’s the matter, Gideon?” Sara asked.

“Message from Central City, 2017.” Gideon supplied before Cisco’s voice was heard.

“Is this on, Gideon?”

“Yes, Mr Ramon.” Gideon prompted.

“Hey everyone.” Cisco said.

“Hey!” They chorused back to him.

“Can you guys get to Central City? It’s an emergency and Barry needs pretty much everyone. I’ve already called Team Arrow and Supergirl and they’re on their way.” Cisco stated.

“Mmm, I wanted to see Kara again.” Sara winked as Jax shook his head at her antics.

“What’s Red gotten himself into now?” Mick asked.

“It’s better if you just see, because I’m not sure if you’d believe it.” Cisco said before he cursed. “Damn, I’ve got to go, quickly get here, please? Barry, No! Don’t touch that!” He yelled before the transmission ended.

“Gideon, set a course.” Sara ordered.

“STAR Labs, May 2017.” Gideon supplied as the Wave Rider headed off once again.

/

“Alright, Cisco, we’re here. What’s the problem?” Oliver asked as he walked into the cortex with Felicity, Diggle, Stein, Sara, Ray, Mick and Jax.

“Oh good, you’re here.” Cisco said as he walked over to them, Julian and HR in tow.

“Where’s Barry?” Felicity asked.

“Iris and Joe are watching him.” HR said.

“Where’s Caitlin?” Dig asked.

“Thar’s part of the issue.” Cisco said. “I was just waiting for Kara so we only have to explain this once.”

As he said that, a portal opened behind him and out stepped Kara and Winn.

“Hey everyone.” Kara beamed at them. “This is my friend, Winn. He’s like my Earth’s Cisco or Felicity.”

“Pleased to meet you all.” Winn smiled at them as Cisco and Felicity smiled back at him especially. It was always nice to meet a fellow techie.

“So, what’s up?” Jax asked seeing everyone was there.

“Short answer, Caitlin went full Killer Frost, sided with Savitar, Barry found out who Savitar is, we tried to stop Savitar, it backfired and Barry has lost all of his memories.” Cisco said.

“Wait, what?!” A few voice chorused as everyone looked at Team Flash in shock.

“Yeah, Caitlin went evil and B.A knows nothing anymore.” HR frowned as Julian and Cisco glared at him.

“I think I know why we’re here, you’re hoping we could jog Barry’s memory?” Ray asked as Cisco nodded.

“Precisely.” Julian said.

“We’ll do it.” Oliver said as Team Arrow, Legends and Supergirl nodded their assent.

“Thanks guys.” Cisco smiled.

“So, who is this Savitar and how does defeating him involve accidentally wiping Barry’s mind?” Winn asked.

“Savitar calls himself the God of Speed, the first speedster and apparently he’s Barry’s greatest enemy, even more than Zoom or Thawne ever was.” HR said as the rest absorbed the information.

“Barry figured out who he was when Joe was talking about what can happen if we lose love apparently, and confronted him.” Julian said.

“He told us what he found out and we suggested temporarily removing Barry’s ability to create new memories, we tried, it backfired and wiped all his memories.” Cisco admitted sadly.

“How would stopping memories stop Savitar?” Mick asked.

“You all know Barry is like the most loving person ever, I’m sure he’s 90% love.” Cisco said as the others nodded. Barry was usually the eternal optimist after all. “Well, take all of that love away, and he’d become warped, in the future sometime that happens, Barry, we don’t know why or how, he loses his connection to love and reason it seems. Savitar is a future version of Barry.” Cisco informed the others as their faces betrayed various expressions of disbelief and shock.

“So, Barry in the future is a bad guy?” Kara asked, not wanting to believe it.

“A possible future version of him it seems is, yes.” Julian said.

“He’s one step ahead of us as he remembers doing what we’re doing to stop him.” HR said.

“So if we removed his ability to remember, temporarily, Savitar would be blind and could be stopped.” Felicity surmised as Cisco nodded.

“Yes, but it backfired and now Mr Allen has no memories whatsoever?” Stein asked.

“Nothing from above the age of 5 it seems, he remembers things like dentists, but our faces, our pasts, nothing.” Cisco stated sadly before a noise came from behind them, turning around they all saw Tracy Brandt walking with Barry.

“Oh, hello.” Tracy said to the newcomers as Barry looked at them all in confusion.

“Who are all these people?” Barry asked and everyone felt their hearts break a little at Barry not recognising them.

“Well, you see, um.” Winn started.

“We’re your friends.” Oliver stated, taking in Barry’s shocked look and the general unknowing look on his face as he took them all in.

“All of you are my friends?” Barry questioned as everyone nodded except Mick.

“Well, I’m more of an acquaintance.” Mick grumbled as Sara nudged him.

“And you are?” Stein asked, looking over Tracy.

“Oh, I’m Tracy Brandt, from CCU, I’m here to help stop Savitar.” She said as the others looked back at Cisco.

“Barry travelled to February 2024 to find out how to stop Savitar last week, Tracy invented the tech in 2020 that stopped Savitar in that timeline, she won the Nobel Prize in 2021 for her work on it and becoming the new foremost expert on the Speed Force.” Cisco informed them.

“February 2024? That’s just before he vanishes, isn’t it?” Oliver asked Cisco who nodded as the others looked confused.

“Who vanishes?” Jax asked.

“When the Dominators took over you all, Barry took me to a secret room in STAR labs that Team Flash have known about for a few years, it has a news article from April 25th, 2024.” Oliver explained as the others nodded.

“What’s the article about?” Mick asked.

“Flash vanishes, missing in crisis.” Cisco states as the rest looked stricken. “Battling against Thawne with the help of the Green Arrow, Hawkgirl and the ATOM, The Flash and Reverse Flash vanish in a bright light, we don’t know if either are ever seen again.” He sums up as those who didn’t know about the article look horrified that they could lose Barry, even if he beats Savitar and stops Iris from dying.

“Basically, that future was a hellhole where Team Flash was gone, Savitar had been gone for four years but had won, and Barry was a wreck. Barry saved it before he left, getting the 2024 Barry hopeful again and reformed Team Flash, but we want to stop all of that from ever happening in the first place.” Julian said.

“So, you’re here to build it three years earlier?” Winn asked Tracy who nodded.

“I’m here to help save the day, and we have three weeks to do it.”

“Three weeks?” Dig asked.

“May 23rd, 2017. The day Savitar kills Iris West.” Cisco said as the others looked shocked. They hadn’t heard about this from Barry.

“That’s why you’re so determined to stop him as soon as you can.” Ray said as Team Flash nodded, except Barry, who just looked confused by all of this talk of the future and Savitar.

“Wait, future _Barry_ kills _Iris_?” Kara asked, unbelieving that the woman that Barry loved so much could be killed by him. Everyone else looked shocked as well. Barry was devoted to Iris, anyone could see that, what could possibly make him want to kill her?

“Savitar always gloated that he was the future to Barry, that’s what starts him on the path to becoming Savitar, the death of Iris, by his own hand.” Cisco grimly said. “As we’ve heard from Savitar, Abra Kadabra, an enemy who showed up the other week, he’s one of Barry’s enemies in the future, came from the 64th century and the 2024 Barry, the death of Iris does what Zoom and Thawne never could, it truly breaks Barry.”

The others looked shocked and saddened to hear that the Flash, a man who inspired hope wherever he went, could be broken and so soon, some of them sent pitying glances at Barry, who continued to look confused by it all.

 “What can we do to stop it?” Stein asked.

“I was hoping just seeing you guys would jog Barry’s memory, but it hasn’t.” Cisco stated sadly. “I’m not sure what to do next to try and recover Barry. We need him to stop Savitar, it can’t be anyone else.”

“Why not?” Mick challenged. “We could all attack Savitar, put him down.”

“Barry entered the Speed Force to save Wally, just before Kara was last here.” Cisco stated. “The Speed Force tormented Barry, appearing to him as Eddie Thawne, an old friend of ours, Ronnie Raymond, another old friend and Caitlin’s fiancé, the first Firestorm with the Professor, and as Snart. It told him that he always lets others make the sacrifice, that Barry had to stop Savitar and save Iris, nobody else could do it.”

“Poor Barry, I had no idea.” Felicity breathed as the rest looked on more in pain. The Speed Force was wrong, it was always Barry who made the sacrifices, always Barry who would lay down his life for a friend in a heartbeat. He’d proven that time and time again.

“We can take Barry on the Wave Rider, let Gideon look him over with the future tech and see if she recommends anything for getting his memory back?” Jax asked.

“That’s a great idea, Jax.” HR smiled, before his smile dropped, turning around everyone saw Joe and Iris enter the Cortex with Wally.

“Hey everyone.” Iris said sadly as they looked at her awkwardly. What could they say now that they knew she was marked for death? They couldn’t be upbeat but they also couldn’t be negative, Barry would find a way to save her, or if not, they would. Iris was one of them and she wouldn’t die if they could help it.

“Is that a rock on your finger?” Mick eyed Iris as the others looked shocked.

“Barry re-proposed?” Kara asked as the others then looked at her in shock.

“You knew about this?” Oliver asked her.

“Yeah, they’d just broken up when I came here last month, but they got back together as I left.” She smiled. “I’m glad to see he proposed again.”

“Yeah, this time it was because he wanted too, not because he thought that marrying me before May would save me from Savitar.” Iris said. “So I said yes, he sang to me as he proposed, it was romantic.” She blushed.

“How is everything going with Barry?” Joe asked as they looked at him sadly.

“Seeing everyone hasn’t jogged his memory.” Cisco admitted. “I’m not sure what to try next to try and help him.”

“What about if I take him for a run?” Wally asked.

“Wally, he doesn’t remember being the Flash or anything, he could hurt himself or others.” Iris rebuked him.

“I can watch him if Wally wants to see if it’ll help?” Kara offered. “I can travel as fast as they can.”

“Well, alright.” Cisco said, looking worried. “But if he falls or something, straight back here. We need to make sure he’ll be alright.” Cisco said.

“I’m on it.” Kara smiled as she and Wally herded Barry out of the room after Kara quickly grabbed Barry’s suit.

“So, why was Kara here the other week?” Dig enquired.

“Somebody called Music Meister attacked her on our Earth, then ran here so her boyfriend and our boss followed him here, bringing Kara to get her help.” Winn said.

“He also got Barry, he put them in a coma where they entered a sort of musical dream world apparently.” Cisco said. “They followed a script singing and dancing inside their shared dreamscape whilst we tried to help them out here by stopping Music Meister, somehow he was draining them so whilst they were unconscious, they had no powers at all and he had use of all their powers, so he could use the Speed Force, fly, use heat vision, the works. It ended with them both being shot and rescued by Iris and Kara’s boyfriend, Mon-El. Apparently love conquers all, they were rescued and Music Meister appeared, told them it was to teach them a lesson about needing love and how it’s about being rescued by the other person sometimes, even if you’re a superhero, that Barry and Kara did everything themselves and needed to let Iris and Mon-El in, then he vanished into thin air before Kara, Mon-El and their boss, J’onn went back to their Earth.”

“How did he vanish into thin air?” Stein asked, astonished.

“He wasn’t from our plane of existence, even said we couldn’t comprehend where he was from, so I get the feeling he was saying he was some sort of god, or at least from a different reality altogether.” Cisco explained.

“So Barry and Kara did a few musical numbers together?” Ray asked.

“I so wish there was video of it.” Sara smirked.

“Yeah, apparently it was very Wizard of Oz, they had to sing whilst stopping a gang war. The gang leaders were Malcolm Merlyn and his son Mon-El on one side, Kara and Barry as well as myself and Winn worked for him apparently, and Joe and his partner, in every sense of the word, Professor Stein, and their daughter, Iris, Mon-El’s forbidden love on the other side.” Cisco explained as those who had been mentioned as being in the musical looked shocked as those who hadn’t sniggered, except for Oliver and Mick, who scowled.

“It was sweet, creepy at times, but sweet, and Barry and I even made our own song up.” Kara said as she came back in, followed by a resigned looking Wally and a shocked looking Barry.

“Barry just found out he can run faster than he thinks is possible, and started to freak out, but no memories.” Wally ruefully said.

“You made a song together? What?” Sara smirked.

“It was called Superfriend and it talked about our powers and friendship, like I said I’m your Superfriend, one part near the end I said if you ever need a hand, and Barry said I’ll be there in a flash, I yelled Barry! He said it was funny, then it finished with both of us saying-“

“-I’m your super, it has a double meaning, friend!” A voice sang from the back, turning around they saw Barry starting to smile.

“You remembered!?” Kara exclaimed as the rest looked in shock. It seemed something had jogged his memory a little.

“I got flashes, Kara, right?” Barry asked her as she rushed over and hugged him tightly.

“Yes!” She yelled as she held him close still.

“Do you remember any of us?” Iris asked hopefully.

“Iris…” Barry breathed, taking her in.

With tears in her eyes, she rushed over to Barry as Kara quickly untangled herself and moved aside, and leapt into Barry’s arms, holding him close and kissing him over and over again.

“We’re not trying anything that stupid ever again, you hear me?” Iris said to him as he held her tight.

“I promise, Iris, I promise.” Barry said.

“What about the rest of us?” Cisco grumbled, as Barry looked at him blankly.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know who you all are still.” He pouted, as Oliver quickly took his bow and an arrow to hand and aimed it at Barry, firing it at his leg.

Barry yelped and quickly dodged out of the way. “Alright, Jesus Ollie! I was kidding! I remembered all of you when I hugged Iris, don’t shoot me!” Barry whined as some of the others grinned and Oliver glared at Barry.

“Don’t mess with your memories ever again, Barry.” Oliver said to him. “You will find a way to stop Savitar, without losing yourself or anyone else, do you hear me?”

“Loud and clear.” Barry winked at him as everyone smiled. It seemed they’d be ok, Barry had his memories back and he was ready to take the fight to Savitar. He wouldn’t let himself become the warped shell of Barry Allen that Savitar was, he’d stop him, and they knew it.

“Touching.” A voice remarked with an icy tone as Caitlin entered the Cortex.

“Caitlin, please, let us help you.” Julian said as he took her in, moving towards her as the others got their weapons ready and aimed at her, lightning crackled in Barry and Wally’s eyes as Kara floated into the air and her eyes turned red, in case Caitlin attacked.

“Why would I need help? Savitar has shown me the way, the way to rid myself of pathetic Caitlin Snow forever.” She smirked as Julian looked as if he had been sucker punched.

“Why would you work with him, knowing who he is, what he will do?” Barry implored Caitlin, hoping that some of his old friend was still there to fight off Killer Frost.

“Why wouldn’t I? He overcame his weakness, and can help me defeat mine.” Caitlin said before a flash of white lightning appeared and Savitar stood before them.

“She’s quite right, Barry.” He grated.

“We all know who you are, you may as well stop hiding in the armour, Barry.” Cisco growled at him as Savitar knelt down and the armour began to retract. Standing up, they all looked at the badly scarred face of Barry Allen.

“Oh, Barry.” Kara whispered, horrified at what had happened to her friend.

“Hello everyone, very long time, no see.” Savitar smirked.

“What happened to you?” Mick asked.

“The Speed Force is unforgiving, Mick.” Savitar said. “Perhaps one day you’ll find out how unforgiving I can be as well.”

“Why would you become this, Barry? Why would you do this to the ones you loved?!” Oliver barked at him, holding his bow even tighter.

“Oh, Ollie. Thawne had it right. He once idolised me, and then he realised that he needed to be my enemy. Being a hero is good, but being the villain of the story is sometimes necessary in history. But you’d be better addressing your version of Barry that question, after all, in my eyes at least, _he’s_ the villain, _he’s_ the big bad.” Savitar growled as everyone else looked at him in disgust. Barry was the hero, he was the good guy and Savitar would never defeat Barry, would never turn Barry into himself.

“Why did you come here? You know we’ll stop you.” Barry challenged his future self.

“I came because I recovered my memories as well, and realised what had happened. You cannot defeat me, Barry. It is better to give up now, bow before your God. Iris must die, I said before, it is her or me, but if you pledge yourself to me now, I will spare you from further misery.” Savitar promised.

“We’ll trap you, like we do in the future.” Tracy said from behind Barry as Savitar glared at her.

“Tracy….you will not survive my wrath. You know this. I know this. I will have my revenge, and I shall never be imprisoned. I shall rule the Speed Force forever, I _am_ the Speed Force, embodied. I am the God of speed.”

“Whatever happened to you, it drove you insane…I’m sorry, Barry.” Oliver said as he released his arrow, and everyone else took their cue to attack, Dig firing his gun, Kara shooting heat vision towards Caitlin as Barry and Wally surged forward. Sara ran forward to attack with her fists as the others moved away from the entrance to the cortex and where the fighters were gathered.

“Time to go.” Savitar stated as he rushed into his suit and threw Barry and Wally to the ground, Oliver’s arrow harmlessly bouncing off of him, Caitlin used her powers to block Kara’s heat vision before she turned and ran from the room, Sara stopping when she realised that she couldn’t hit an armoured Savitar. Savitar glared hatefully at everyone in the room as they looked at him in shock, fear and disgust.

“You will come to see the truth one day, Barry. When that day comes, you WILL become me.”

Savitar raced from the room, grabbing Caitlin and flashing out of STAR labs before the rest of them could make a move to stop him.

 “Damn, she’s gone again, we have to save her.” Julian said as HR patted him on the shoulder.

“We will save her, we’ll free her and get rid of Killer Frost, and we’ll have good old Caitlin back again one day, you’ll see.” HR smiled at Julian.

“What about Savitar?” Ray asked.

“Nothing we can do about that today, we haven’t made the tech that can trap him again yet, until we’ve got it, we can only defend against him and try and save Iris and Caitlin.” Barry ruefully said.

“Trap him again?” Winn asked.

“He’s from the future, the me of 2020 trapped him in the Speed Force in a speedster prison as it was, Wally was in it for a while as there must always be a speedster in it, and Jay Garrick is there for now until we can capture Savitar, he sacrificed himself for Wally. Once we have Savitar, he’s going back, he can spend eternity being tormented by the memory of the worst day of his life. If anyone deserves it, it’s him.” Barry growled as the others looked worried. Tormented forever by his memories? This wasn’t Barry, Barry wasn’t dark.

“Are you sure you’re ok, Barry?” Kara asked, worried for her friend.

“I’ll be fine, Kara, thank you.” Barry smiled. “He just makes me so angry. I can’t believe a future version of me would ever harm Iris, no matter the reason.”

“You’ll discover it, and you’ll stop him, we all have faith in you.” Jax said as the others nodded. Barry would save the day, he always did after all.

“You sure you don’t want us to stick around and help?” Kara asked Barry shortly afterwards as her and Winn prepared to head back to Earth-38.

“Nah, I’ve got to do it, like the Speed Force said. Besides, I think we’ve all had more than enough excitement for now, and we all have our own problems to take care of.” Barry told her as she nodded. That was true, Cadmus was still out there, and with how Rhea had acted, she doubted the Queen of Daxam had just given up and left without a fight.

“I’ll see you soon, Barry.” Kara and Winn both promised as they left, before Team Legends also bid everyone else farewell and took off once more to protect the timeline in the Wave Rider.

“Oliver, Felicity, Dig. Thanks for coming.” Barry smiled at them as he hugged Felicity and shook hands with the other two.

“Anytime, Barry.” Dig promised.

“Take care, Barry.” Felicity smiled.

“If you need help with Prometheus, just call me.” Barry informed them as they nodded and walked back to their car, leaving Barry alone with Oliver.

“Look, Oliver, I appreciate you coming and I mean it, you need help stopping Chase, just ask.”

“Thanks, Barry, but I’ve got a plan to stop Chase.” Oliver promised him. “Just make sure that you never become Savitar, and when you do defeat him, tell him that its love, not hate that makes you strong, that is why Barry Allen, and not Savitar, will ALWAYS win.”


	3. Resolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's May 23rd, can Barry save Iris?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making this due to people asking for a continuation, this will be the FINAL chapter I’m afraid, the final fight against Savitar. It takes the original version as canon, so the teams haven’t met Savitar and Caitlin yet. I began writing this before The Flash 3x21 Cause and Effect aired, so any changes from there onwards, my apologies. I have incorporated parts of 3X21 and 3x22 to not be wildly different.
> 
> Check out @2050_official on Twitter for more news on my fics and other things Arrowverse related and otherwise!

“There’s nothing else for it, we’ve tried everything, even Captain Cold couldn’t stop Savitar. Iris will die _tonight_ if we don’t stop Savitar, but I’ll need help if we’re to do it. I can save Iris from him, I’m fast enough, but once Iris is out of Savitar’s hands, I don’t know what we can do to stop him, he’s faster than I am and he could target any one of you in revenge, he could even go after Iris, and if he can outpace me, how can I stop him?” Barry addressed the team as they looked contemplative. Today was the day, Iris had to be saved, tonight.

“You will become me, Barry. You cannot stop the ascension, you shall become a God.” Savitar promised him when he’d attacked with Snart, but Savitar had beaten him away with ease.

“What are our options?” Julian asked, looking around, Joe, Wally, Cisco all looked downtrodden.

“Well we could call the other teams up again?” HR suggested.

“They may be willing to lend a hand, like they did when Barry lost his memories.” Tracy said.

“It’s worth a shot.” Cisco said.

“It has to be me guys, remember?” Barry asked.

“You have to save her from Savitar, you don’t have to beat him yourself.” Wally said as the others nodded. The Speed Force told Barry that he had to save Iris, not that he had to defeat Savitar alone.

“Alright, well call the others if they’re free and if they can help us, the more the merrier.” Barry said.

“I’ll call them, you work on finding out where Iris is and saving her.” Cisco told Barry who nodded gratefully at him before he and Wally sped out of STAR Labs, to explore the city to try and find where Savitar was holed up keeping Iris.

/

“Hey Cisco, can I help you?” Kara asked. It had been a long fight against Rhea but things were finally looking up again for National City. Rhea had fled, Lillian was in DEO custody, Cadmus had been disbanded and brought to heel and the Superfriends had come out of everything stronger and more united than ever. Everyone except Mon-El, who had gone with Rhea to stop her from destroying National City.

“Hi Kara, is it a bad time?” Cisco asked.

“No, its fine, what’s up?” She said, hoping he couldn’t hear the forced cheerfulness in her voice. Sure, they’d won the day and everything, but Mon-El was gone, and she had loved him.  She still did.

“I hate to ask you this, but we may need your help with Savitar.” Cisco sheepishly said.

“What’s the matter? I thought you guys had it handled?” She asked, concerned that her friends couldn’t deal with it.

“Barry’s gotten fast enough to save Iris, but that’s not the issue, he’s not fast enough to defeat Savitar alone. Without help, Savitar will probably beat him.”

“Yeah I’ll help. We can’t let Barry become Savitar, and if stopping Savitar will prevent Barry from ever becoming him in the first place, I’ll be there whenever, wherever.” Kara promised Cisco.

“Thanks, Kara. Barry and Wally are scouring the city, trying to locate Savitar. They could really use your help if you’re free.” Cisco said.

“I’ll be over in a jiffy. Just need to see if anyone else from my Earth wants to come stop an evil speedster.” Kara told him as she hung up.

Kara rushed over to the DEO to see how everyone was coping following the battle to save National City and if anyone was up for travelling to Earth-1 to take down a God of Speed.

“Hey everyone.” Kara called as she got to the main room and saw Alex, Winn, J’onn, Clark and James stood around the table, discussing what to do next for the rebuilding and protection of the city.

“What’s the matter?” Alex asked, seeing the look of determination on Kara’s face.

“I’m heading back to Earth-1, to help with the Savitar issue. I was wondering if any of you wanted to come with?”

“I’d like too but I can’t really help there.” Winn admitted as Alex and J’onn pursed their lips.

“You should be here, helping the city, Kara.” Alex admonished.

“There’s already enough people helping around here, Alex.” Kara told her. “My friend needs help and I promised to give them it.”

“Why do they need, you, Kara?” J’onn asked.

“I told you about Savitar, didn’t I?”

“You did.” J’onn said, not seeing the point.

“Barry can’t deal with him alone, he’s too powerful for Barry, but with my help, we can win. I know it.” Kara stood firm as J’onn shook his head.

“I’ll stay here to help with the clean-up, but I think Clark should go with you.” James told her.

“Are you sure, James?” Kara asked him. “I thought you wanted to see Earth-1?”

“I do, but National City needs everyone it can right now. I’ll go another time, when we’re all at peace again. For now though, Barry needs you and Clark could be a big help to you.” James said.

“That’s true, I’ll come along if you need me, we can leave National City for a day or two.” Clark affirmed.

“Alright, then Clark and I will head to Earth-1, hopefully we’ll be back tomorrow.” Kara said.

/

“Can I help you, Cisco?” Oliver asked wearily. The fight with Chase and his friends had taken everything. They had won, but Team Arrow was fractured. Oliver was exhausted and all he wanted to do was return to Star City and ensure he saved his city from itself.

“Hey, Oliver. I heard about the explosion on Lian Yu on the news. Are you all ok?” Cisco asked, worried for him.

“We will be….in time…we will be….why did you call, Cisco?” Oliver asked again.

“I hate to be the one to ask, but we could really use your help stopping Savitar for good. Barry can save Iris, as he must, but he’s not fast enough to beat Savitar one on one, and Savitar will have Caitlin helping him as well. He needs the Green Arrow’s help.” Cisco admitted as Oliver sighed.

“Listen, Cisco, I’d love to help Barry out, but I really can’t.” Oliver said, regret in his voice.

“I get it, Oliver. If there’s anything we can do to help you with your team…” Cisco trailed off.

“I know, thank you, Cisco. If I can get there to help, I’ll try...” Oliver said with a small smile as he hung up.

He wished he could help Barry, but he couldn’t do everything for Team Flash, and he needed to do something, anything to take his mind off of what had happened with Chase. Oliver could admit to himself, he was in a dark place, everything had just gotten too much, and it would probably be a while before he was alright again. However, maybe helping to stop Savitar and then relaxing in Central for a while could be the thing to help him.

/

“Cisco?” Sara asked as the Wave Rider went through another rough patch in the time stream, being chased by Time pirates. “Now is really not a good time.”

“I was just calling to check on you guys and if you’re free, ask for some help, but if it’s a bad time…” Cisco trailed off.

“No, we’ll be fine, what’s up?” Ray called as Sara refocused on dealing with the pirates, giving Ray a glare.

“We may need some help to stop Savitar, if you’re free that is. Barry can save Iris, as he has too, but Savitar is faster and stronger, when Barry saves Iris, we have no clue what Savitar will do, and we can’t contain him ourselves, we’ll need backup to strike whilst he’s still reeling from losing his chance to kill Iris and then we can strike to end his threat.” Cisco informed the Legends.

“We’re not sure, Mr Ramon, the time line still needs protection.” Stein started.

“What Grey means is, if we can, we’ll be there, but we’re not sure.” Jax offered as Stein dipped his head in gratitude.

“Yeah, that’s great news, thanks guys.” Cisco replied. “Sorry to bother you with it all, but we’re not sure what we’ve got will be enough, Barry and Wally aren’t fast enough and I’ll be too busy trying to contain Caitlin, as she’s proven before that she’s good at hitting speedsters with her ice powers.”

“It’s fine, Cisco, if we can get there and help you guys, we will.” Sara informed him.

“We’ve got to go!” Ray called as the ship took another hit from the time pirates’ ship and the connection to 2017 was severed.

/

“Alright, thanks for coming.” Cisco said as the assorted heroes gathered outside STAR Labs. Kara, Clark, Oliver and the Legends had turned up in the end to help Team Flash deal with Savitar once and for all.

“Where is everyone else?” Oliver asked. He’d came in the end as he knew he could do one last thing before he considered hanging up the hood for good. Barry would never forgive himself if he let Savitar take Iris’ life and Oliver wouldn’t let Barry fall into the pit of darkness that he himself had once been in. He had crawled out due to his loved ones, and the loss of a friend, if Barry fell into one with the loss of Iris, he may never crawl back out. Savitar proved that he wouldn’t climb out of it, he’d get worse.

“HR is with Tracy going over the Speed Force trap, Julian is prepping for when we capture Caitlin, we’re hoping we can suppress her powers again and get her under control. Barry is with Wally still scouting the city, trying to find Savitar before he makes his play at the park.”

“Why the park?” Kara asked.

“That’s where Savitar kills Iris, in two hours’ time.” Cisco stated.

“Alright, so what do we do?” Clark asked.

“We need to circle him, stop any chance of escape and everyone hit him all at once.” Cisco said. “If we can stop him fleeing, we can hit him from all sides, not even a metallic suit can stop lightning blasts, heat vision, freeze breath, sonic waves and exploding arrows, on top of fire blasts at once.”

“Alright, but what else can we do to stop him? Take his speed away somehow?” Oliver asked.

“We’re not sure how to do that, we have a way of removing speed but he’d need to be at STAR labs and outside of his suit.” Cisco said.

“Cisco?” A voice called out to the assorted teams.

“Hey, Barry, what’s up?” Cisco asked.

“We’ve searched the city, I know where Savitar is.”

“Where?”

“He’s with Iris and Joe.” Barry said as Cisco swore.

“I’ll hack into their comms, try and pinpoint where they are.” Cisco said, hurrying into STAR labs and getting to work. The rest of the heroes followed him inside as Barry and Wally raced back.

“Alright, I think I’ve got it.” Cisco said as he fed the link through the cortex and played it aloud.

“-you were my son once. Please, Barry.” They heard Joe say.

“THAT’S NOT MY NAME!” Barry’s voiced roared back at him, bouncing off the walls of the cortex as if he was actually there.

“You’re right, I’m sorry, Savitar, please.” Joe begged.

“Cisco, can we track where they are?” Barry asked.

“Already working on it.”

“I can’t believe it.” Iris’ voice came through. “Barry Allen. A coward.” She spat at Savitar.

“Oh, Iris. I said before, I’m sorry you have to die, but it’s you or me. As for you, Barry, I know you’re listening to this, I have lived this, already, remember? Iris will die tonight, you cannot save her, and once she is gone, you will become me, I will ascend and you will become ME.” There was a noise of rushing sound before Joe spoke again.

“He’s gone.”

“Joe, get Iris to safety, co-ordinate with HR, don’t let me know where you are, if I don’t know, he won’t know.” Barry begged him.

“Alright, I’ll get on it. Barry….stay safe.” Joe told him.

“I will, keep her and yourself safe, Joe. Tonight, we end this.”

“Damn, we’ve got only a few hours left to stop him. We only know where he’ll be when he kills Iris, we don’t know where to find him before then.” Cisco told the others.

“Head back to STAR, we’ll have to think of a way to get him before he can grab Iris.” Barry said.

“What can we do?” Stein asked.

“Could you and Ray check with Tracy, go over her calculations? We need this to be perfect.” Barry said. “Kara, Clark, Oliver, can you all get up high and look around for Savitar or Caitlin? Jax, you and Mick just hang back here. I’ll go for another search with Wally. We’ll find them, we’ll stop them.” Barry assured them.

 “I got an alert, he’s at the waterfront!” Cisco called.

“Alright, let’s go. Cisco, can you get a breach opened? Kara, Clark and I will race there, everyone else, through the breach.”

“Come on through guys, we’ll have to be quick before he rushes away again.”

“Let’s do this.” Oliver said as the teams went through the portal, Barry and Kara rushing away themselves.

/

As they stepped out as the waterfront, they saw Kara and Clark flying down and Barry racing towards them, an orange blur towards a lone figure. Suddenly, the lone figure raised its head, a metallic head nine feet in the air, before he suddenly rushed towards the orange blur, white lighting trailing behind him.

“We need to move.” Oliver growled, moving into his leader role as the rest of them took up positions. Sara pulled out her batons and headed up behind Oliver as Ray flew into the air in his ATOM suit, Stein and Jax quickly merged as Firestorm took into the skies as well.

As Oliver began firing volley after volley at the God of Speed and Sara prepared to launch herself at him, Firestorm and ATOM fired blast after blast, the two Kryptonians using their heat vision and freeze breath, both doing their utmost to avoid Barry, who was locked in struggle with Savitar, hand to hand, both rushing around the waterfront, almost too fast for the others to hit, both of them throwing their all into trying to destroy the other entirely.

As Barry weaved and ducked around Savitar’s blows, he saw the twin beams of Kara and Kal’s heat vision strike Savitar in the back, knocking him down, as he stood again, Ray’s dwarf star blasts and Firestorm’s nuclear attacks put him back down, before Oliver’s exploding arrows struck across his chest and shoulders. Savitar gave a final roar as he collapsed to his knees, exhausted.

“We did it!” Kara yelled as they saw Savitar fall to the ground on his knees. Stein and Jax unfused as Savitar collapsed, Jax panting.

“Oh man that was tough.”

“Alright!” Ray called.

“We have to be on guard.” Oliver called as Barry nodded, before Barry suddenly went flying through the air.

“Barry!” Kara called out as Barry suddenly stood before her.

“You forgot my suit was autonomous? Like I told you before, Barry. My suit’s cooler than yours.” Savitar grinned as the rest of the heroes looked at him in shock. They already knew who he was, but seeing it was something far different than hearing it.

“Barry…”Oliver said.

“What happened to you, Mr Allen?” Stein asked.

“That’s not my name.” Savitar growled.

“Savitar, sorry, please, let us help you.” Stein said.

“You are all fools, trapped in an endless cycle of pain and torment. I am free of it as I am free of _him._ ” Savitar spat as he glared at Barry, who was rising back to his feet.

“Let us help you.” Kara begged him.

“YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU LEFT ME THERE, IN THAT HELL. YOU ALL ABANDONED ME AS WELL!” Savitar screamed at them.

“What do you mean?” Sara asked him, tears in her eyes as she took in this broken version of her friend.

“When I was created, I survived, Savitar spared me, to become him, but I was meant to die, and so I was shunned by team Flash as I was meant to be dead, I left to seek out my other friends, surely you would understand, the Legends refused to speak to me, seeing me as an aberration, Oliver wanted nothing to do with what had happened, and Kara said to me that I was not Barry, I was something wrong and she shunned me too. YOU ALL ABANDONED ME! This, is your punishment as well, seeing the ones you love DIE and being unable to stop it.” Savitar growled at them all as they looked stricken.

“We won’t let you do that Barry.” Ray warned him, eyes hardening at the thought of his friends being harmed.

“You can’t stop me, Palmer. You think you can? I know the future, all of your futures. You cannot hope to stop me or save Iris.” Savitar leered.

“We can stop you, and we will.” Oliver growled as he reached for an arrow.

“Go for an arrow and I’ll kill you before you can blink.” Savitar warned him as Oliver lowered his hand again. “Here’s how this will go. I’m leaving, if you try to stop me, well, I’m sure I can kill several of you before I make my escape anyway.” Savitar smirked.

Nobody moved a muscle as Savitar looked around before he turned to his own downed suit. Racing over, he quickly flashed inside it and stood before them once again in his metallic armour.

“See you soon, Barry.” He snarled before he raced away.

Nobody said a word as Savitar left, before they turned to Team Flash.

“Wow, he really hates you, doesn’t he?”

“Why didn’t you warn us he’d be like that? Why didn’t you tell us what our future selves had done?”

“We didn’t know.” Cisco admitted.

“Future me never mentioned this.” Barry explained.

“What can we do about it now?” Oliver asked.

“We need to find him, somehow and stop him before he can harm anyone else.” Barry said. “We’re working on a trap for him, we think it’ll work.”

“Where is it?” Clark asked.

“Back at STAR. It should be ready to go, we just need to have Savitar stand still long enough to hit him with it, when he’s hit, it’ll trap him in the Speed Force for good.”

“Guys, serious problem!” HR called over the comms.

“What’s wrong? Please tell me the trap is working.” Cisco begged him.

“It’s Iris, we heard you’d beaten Savitar back and revealed where Joe had taken her, it was Savitar, he played us, he knows where Iris is.” HR told them.

“Infantino Street. It’s where he killed her. We need to get there, get the trap and get it there, I’ll stop him.” Barry said, face betraying his fear. If Iris was trapped….

“I’ll get it.” Clark volunteered, taking to the skies and racing away towards STAR.

“Guys, I appreciate everything you’ve done. But it has to be me, I have to save her.” Barry told them.

“We won’t let you go it alone, Barry.” Sara informed him.

“I’ve got too, the Speed Force itself told me so.” Barry insisted. “I’m sorry, please, get back to STAR, be safe, I’ll be along soon with Iris.” He said as Clark flew back, speed force cannon in hand, giving it to Barry, who smiled at them before racing away.

“Barry!” Oliver called as he raced away.

“There’s nothing we can do. We need to get back, let Barry save her and once we have the go, we all move in and put Savitar down for good.” Cisco said.

“Cisco, we need to help.” Jax argued.

“I agree, I do, but Barry needs to do this.” Cisco said, before a crackling over the comms alerted them.

“You lose, Barry.” A voice growled.

“NO!” Barry roared. The rest of their mouths opened in shock, horror in their eyes as they heard the utterly defeated tone in Barry’s scream, before the next words they heard broke their hearts entirely.

“Iris! Iris….please….don’t die…..I’m sorry, I wasn’t fast enough…..don’t leave me.” Barry begged her.

“Barry…..” Cisco said, horrified as the others echoed his sentiments. How had he failed? The trap was working, he was fast enough, how could Savitar have killed her?

“What do we do now?” Oliver asked, voice steady despite his eyes showing his sorrow.

“I….I don’t know.” Cisco admitted, voice weak.

“I do.” Barry said in the comms, voice hard, anger in his tone. “I’m ending this.” He vowed before suddenly there was a static noise coming from his comms.

“Barry?” Kara called, to no answer.

“BARRY!” Cisco yelled, but nothing.

“HR, can you track his comms? We need to find him, we need a plan.”

“Sorry San FranCisco.” HR said through the comms. “There’s nothing, it’s like he just vanished into thin air.”

“Hang on….vanished….oh no.” Cisco said, realisation dawning on his face.

“What’s happened? What has he done?” Ray asked.

“He’s gone to the future again. He won’t, he can’t…”

“Can’t what, Mr Ramon?” Stein asked.

“Savitar is a time remnant from 2020. He’s gone to 2020. He plans to kill Savitar before Savitar can become his enemy.”

“He can’t…He could destroy time!” Sara raged.

“He just lost the love of his life, he won’t be thinking clearly. His world is gone. To him, only one thing matters. Vengeance.” Cisco gravely said.

/

“I need you to come to 2017. Help me stop Savitar, once and for all.”

“We already stopped him. You all abandoned me for it.” The other person told Barry, who looked at him in anger.

“You love Iris, so do I. We can stop her dying, we just need to stop Savitar earlier on.” Barry told him. “Or are you a coward?”

“I’ll do it. If this is what it’ll take, to make sure I’m never abandoned, that we never need to make time remnants to begin with. We’ll stop Savitar.” The time remnant vowed.

“Thank you.” Barry smiled, glad that the remnant couldn’t see his inner thoughts.

“How do we do this?” The remnant asked.

“Let’s just go. Quick and fast. May 23rd 2017\. We stop Savitar, together.”

“Alright.”

/

Arriving back in 2017, Barry and his remnant arrived on Infantino Street, to see past Barry pleading with Savitar.

“Don’t do this!”

“Go, now!” Barry told his remnant who rushed forward to engage, surprising both Barry and Savitar.

“What’s happening?” Savitar growled, as new memories began to bombard him, as he dropped Iris and the philosopher’s stone.

“USE THE TRAP!” The remnant called to the stunned past Barry, as he rushed forward and began to punch Savitar, with a primal roar of rage and confusion, Savitar grabbed the remnant by the throat and squeezed, watching the life choke out of him. As the remnant began to lose consciousness, Savitar regained his clarity and dropped him to the floor in shock, before he could react, the speed force cannon’s beam struck him in the chest and with a roar of anger and hatred, he felt himself sucked once more into the Speed Force, trapped forevermore.

“Iris!” Barry yelled, rushing over to her to ensure she was alright. As he did so, the Barry who had lost Iris smiled as he felt himself begin to fade away. The future was changed, and as such, he had no reason to exist.

“Barry…” Iris weakly said as she smiled at him. She was alright, so was he and Savitar was gone. “Who helped you?”

“I think it was me.” He said as he turned to the remnant, who was weakly staring at him.

“T-Thank you….saved….Iris.” He smiled at Barry who knelt next to him and held onto him.

“You’ll be alright, we’ll get you help.” Barry promised his remnant who weakly shook his head.

“It’s alright…I’ll see Mom again….I’ll tell her….you say hello.” He smiled weakly before closing his eyes for good.

_Leaving it there, Savitar is gone, the remnant is dead, and Iris is saved. Hope you like it. I may do a very short conclusion someday down the line, but for now, I like ending it here._


	4. Please Look

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look

Hey people of fanfiction.net and AO3, I'm writing this note and attaching it to all of my stories with updates planned for anytime soon for a few reasons.

Firstly, to the people who have either reviewed or pm'd asking if I was ok, thanks for your concern guys, I'm fine, I just haven't updated for reasons I'll explain in a minute.

Secondly, to the reasons. There's several so bear with me please.

This isn't a permanent hiatus, don't worry, with no updates in about 3/4 months, you may believe it may be, and I'm sorry I didn''t write this note a while back. In fact, I WILL begin writing again after SEPTEMBER 19th, so worry not, I'll be back to updating as much as possible in FIVE WEEKS.

Now as to why it will be then and not several months ago.

Firstly, I have a full time job now, and as it involves much moving around and isn't a cushy desk job as some may call office work or the like, I'm usually too tired when I get home to write, and have to be out of the house shortly after waking the next day to get to my job of door to door fundraising for charity.

Secondly, whilst this job does give me weekends free, I haven't written much at all for three additional reasons.

Firstly, I said I was done with essays for uni, I kinda fibbed there. I have the big kahuna itself, the dissertation. I have to write about 98% of it still and its due September 19th, so any free time at all until then is solely for it I'm afraid. 

Secondly, my laptop charger, to pardon my French as the saying goes, is fucked. Heck, I'm writing this now with less than an hour of charge and I have to add this note to all of my stories on both sites in that time, as my charger is that erratic it usually takes several hours to give me an hour of battery. I hope to be able to get a new charger either tomorrow or next weekend so that's something good at least.

Thirdly, I know you likely don't have this expectation, however I feel when my stories get a good reception or a fair few reads, thereâ€™s the expectation that I have to update constantly, and that saps the fun out of writing a little for me. I understand, you likely don't have it, and it's also my fault for trying to update something like 10 fanfictions at the same time, however the fun of writing has slipped a little since May for myself.

I promised updates and of course you shall receive, I think I want to finish my works more than anybody who enjoys reading them will want them finished. However, those updates as you saw were not around May/June as I had hoped, they will likely begin at the back end of September to early October, however they WILL be coming.

Jesus, 500 words already, well that's everything really, thank you for taking the time to read this, and I will get on it again ASAP. Kind Regards to y'all. (I'm sorry, I keep watching and repeating Adam Sandler movies recently, and Ridiculous 6 is rubbing off on me) 

* If anyone wants to write a good "Companions and the Doctors watch Doctor Who" fanfiction and actually get past about 7 episodes of it before giving up as all others seem to have done, please tell me if you start it and I will read it as soon as I hear.


	6. Nooo

Hey guys, not an update, though some are coming for some of the stories in the next few days and weeks. Just a question.

Right, some of my stories, such as Fifty Shades of Supercorp have been wildly more popular on AO3, whilst some, such as The Scarlet Speedster, have had a much better reception on FFN. So, I’m considering whether or not to have some stories exclusively on one platform and some on the other.

I will be running a poll to decide this, both on FFN and on my Fanfiction Twitter account.

Check @2050_official on Twitter to vote on the poll or search “StannisIsTheOneTrueKing” on FFN.

The poll will run for three days, starting from the publication of this note on all of my Arrowverse fics.

I hope you all had a good Christmas/Hannukah/etc and I hope you all have an amazing New Year

 

                                                              


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